By Shirley
Wiggins
I never learned to swim, never had much desire to learn to swim, but I have longed to be able to swim. I do not like for water to get in my face,
particularly my eyes, nose, mouth or ears.
Ironically, I love to look at the water and be near enough to “drink” in its beauty with
my eyes. I love the water! Oceans, lakes, sparkling clear blue pool
water -- all of it! Especially at sunrise and sunset: such a glorious sight to see! To see,
mind you, not swim in.
Facing the coming of the autumn this year is both a
joy and a delight, even though we missed our trip to the coast again this year. As August blended into September, I counted
this season’s change as one of adventure.
Our two-story house has sold and we have an
opportunity to downsize to a house of rooms all on one level --- grateful,
grateful! (To borrow a phrase from a
wonderful woman named Lucy!)
A brand-new grandbaby is set to make his debut around
mid-October. He is a beautiful little
bundle of surprise coming from God to our daughter and son-in-law. He is also a special addition to so much
good in our future that we have to look forward to with great excitement.
As with all of life’s seasonal changes, challenges
come, too, along with the greatest opportunities for new life-seasons.
Details, details, details - bringing in so much to do,
much uncertainty, and so much work requiring so much time and energy!
Over all of life hangs that opaque curtain suspended
over the “now,” and “then,” and “when.” One-day-at-a-time
living is called for and with all these uncertainties surely they are bringing
unending opportunities to practice the “walk-by-faith-and-not-by-sight
principle that God has set for His people.
Determined to go through this time in my life right
now in just that way, with all excitement, exhilaration, and enthusiastic
expectations of good, I walked confidently into September. Until… recently when an unexpected something reared up in front of me and quietly said,
“Boo.” And, I became afraid.
I put on my well-worn “happy” facemask, and waded on
into the ‘ocean’ – ankle-deep, and then knee-deep. I could see the waves of potentially very
rough water on the horizon, seeming to roll relentlessly toward me.
Various disappointments keep bobbing up and I keep carrying
each one to my Father, who is a very powerful King.
I seek His face in prayer. I read His word with daily diligent
care. And, still the disappointments
come in -- some small and minor, some huge and scary.
And, I become afraid - again.
Awakening in the deep, dark midnight hours or the
starry early dawn, I recount each one into my Father’s ears…until peace
descends again, covering me with the comfort and assurance of His continued
presence, and His thorough knowledge of every situation and circumstance.
Suddenly, on any given day, a most unwelcome visitor is
likely to come rolling in, usually right on the heels of several of these “little”
disappointments. His name is Discouragement.
He came in this time with fully packed bags obviously
intending to stay for an extended period. And again, I became afraid.
I assessed my arsenal of resources and believed I could withstand his
messy, irritating presence, as he has been a too-frequent visitor to my house
in the past. No matter where I happen to
be living, he always seems to find me and barges in unwanted.
I review again in my mind all the ways and times that
my Father’s Presence without fail equips me to deal with the despicable
deceptions that discouragement always throws haphazardly or methodically all
over the place when he drops in for a “visit.”
He makes himself at home and immediately begins to
redecorate my surroundings with darkness to block all the sunlight. He casts a pall of negativity over absolutely
everything. He delights in spreading his
deceptively subtle thoughts and innuendos – never including any hint of good
about anything. Every event is always a
portent of worse to come.
Soon enough, chest-high water escalates into neck-deep
water, and my feet begin to slip in the shifting sands of the deep undercurrent
of oppression.
And, I become afraid - again. Again, I look almost helplessly around me
only to acknowledge there is no human hand available to help me:
I have to
learn to swim in deep water!
The waves of life are now too strong, too frequently
rolling over me, pulling me into the deep.
It will be foolish, and to my own detriment, if I continue to childishly
rely upon any human arm to be available, or even able, to pull me back to the
safety of the shore every time another wave of discouragement threatens to pull
me into dangerously deep and shark-infested waters.
My feet too easily shift in the slippery sands at the
bottom of this ocean I am in, and I shamefully admit that I have wasted too much
valuable time wading in shallow water and playing about in life. I must sacrifice everything it will take for
me to finally learn how to swim, and how to float, in order to survive in the
unruly waters of this life. I wholeheartedly
intend to survive, because my Father has said that I am more than a conqueror,
and furthermore that my future inheritance is so certain that it is guaranteed.
Even a non-swimmer like me can foolishly let
self-sufficiency keep us semi-grounded in shallow water as the smaller waves of
disappointment roll around our ankles and knees.
We recognize that feeling of letting our feet sink
deep into the swirling and shifting sands of the ocean’s bottom as the gentle,
and occasionally the not-so-gentle, waves roll over us as we stand comfortably
near the beach’s shore ankle-or-even knee-deep in the warm summer ocean.
Some of us are so strong-willed that we can keep
ourselves mildly stable in our stance, even in the midst of waist-high or
perhaps even chest-high water. We are at
ease in our spot as long as we can calm ourselves with the shallow platitudes
of common sense reasoning; as long as we rely on our own way of thinking and
understanding.
But, when discouragement thunders in on us like a
hungry shark, no longer just the passing whale, and seems determined to wash us
out of the shallows into the dark, deep, and mysterious waters of life, we
realize with the utmost urgency that it is now
time to learn how to swim spiritually.
Life is so similar to the sea, that “great body of
salt water that covers nearly three-fourths of the earth” … “the ocean {that} still holds mysteries
that we are only beginning to unravel.”
As we celebrate more birthdays in life, we discover that
the more we learn about life, the more that we just don’t yet know about
life. Some of the things we’ve relied on
in our belief system just won’t deal adequately with the dead seriousness that
life takes on sometimes.
This age in which we now live, for example, is deadly
serious and is the time in history for Truth, not common sense reasoning, or
the philosophies of mankind, and the foolish dependence upon what we think we
know, and what we are taught to ‘believe’ in our heads and recite with our
mouths.
These are the times that ‘try men’s hearts’ – the
times that put to the test all we’ve been told and taught to believe in this
modern, technologically savvy world in which we currently live. This is the world which seeks to dethrone God
and dismiss His laws and destroy traditional values and replace them with
various myths, fables, and fairy tales that were unproven in earlier
generations, but still put forth as theories, and which are now being taught
broadly as though they were proven truths -- even as Truth itself is being
brutally attacked, forbidden and publicly banned from polite society. "Truth is dead in the streets..."
Disappointments come to all, and discouragement comes
to many. The ocean of life becomes more
and more agitated and we hear the news reports of typhoons and tidal waves
around the world. And, we become more
and more afraid because we know with ever more certainty that surely one day,
they will reach the shores of our dwelling too.
As adults, we ourselves must first and finally learn
to swim in the deep water with the deadly sharks, teaching at early ages, our
children, and our grandchildren, how to float, and then how to become
experienced long-distance swimmers in the sea of life. Perseverance and endurance is exactly what is
needed now. Firm faith grounded in the
standard of God’s truth.
God is the Supreme Swim-Team Coach. He has mastered life in the shallows and life
in the depths because He engineered life and brought it into being. His Word, The Holy Bible, contains 66 Books
of information and illustrative instruction --- well documented, and recorded
and preserved forever. Not one word of
God’s Word will ever fail or disappear.
He has provided this Book because He desires that we learn everything about
Him that He has revealed about Himself, about life and how to live it, and how
to prepare for eternity.
His invitation to “come and dine,” remains open during
this Age of Grace. How long will this
current age last? No one can say for
sure, but the Bible states emphatically that God Himself has determined its
last “day”. Each passing day brings us
nearer to the preset date in time.
Open your eyes and know that the time approaches –
every day brought nearer than it was yesterday.
It is high time to wake up and sign up for your spiritual swim lessons
and join the Savior’s Swim Team.
He is awesomely able and wondrously willing to teach
all we need to know to survive the challenges of this temporary life and
inherit, as more than conquerors, the eternal life He has prepared for all who
will believe on and adhere to and trust in Him.¹
Look for more to come about spiritual swim lessons,
how to float, and how to swim, swim, swim in the ocean of life.
¹ To be a child of God, you must first
have a relationship with Christ.
John 3:16-18 (ESV): “For God so loved the
world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have eternal life. For God
did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the
world might be saved through Him.
Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe
is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son
of God.”
If you have never acknowledged your sin and
confessed it by agreeing with God about it, and received Jesus Christ as your
Savior and Lord of your life, you are encouraged to listen for His Holy Spirit "voice" to invite you to pray the prayer of repentance sincerely confessing your
sin and asking Jesus to cleanse you of that sin. If you repent and turn from your sin, to
Christ, and “confess with your mouth
Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead; you
will be saved," according to God's Word, the Holy Bible, in Romans 10:9.
If you have just prayed to receive
Christ, tell someone. Then become an
active member and participant in a church where God is exalted, and His Word,
The Holy Bible, is taught as the standard of life.
